


Spoiling the End

by Jade_II



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-01-28
Packaged: 2017-11-27 08:26:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_II/pseuds/Jade_II
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Singing Towers, the Doctor can't resist the spoilers anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spoiling the End

The Singing Towers of Darillium were difficult, to say the least.  
  
He allowed himself to cry, because she had told him, all those centuries ago, that he had cried. He wasn't sure he could have held the tears back anyway. This whole situation was just… just _rubbish_ , really.  
  
There had been a time, about a hundred years ago or so, when he had thought he'd made his peace with it. They had had a long time together, longer than he had expected, and it had been full to the brim with love and adventure. They had led a better life than he could ever have dreamed, and if the price of that was having to watch her unwittingly run off to her death, then so be it. Everybody had to die sometime, after all, and how was this any worse than sitting by her bedside in a hospital waiting for her to die of old age?  
  
River would hate to die of old age, anyway.  
  
…But she was still so _young_.  
  
Of course he would probably see her younger self still, goodness knew how many times, and he truly didn't know if that was a consolation or a curse. To have arrived here now, almost at the end of her timeline, where she had experienced everything she would ever experience and when she knew him better than she ever would – better than anyone ever would, he rather thought… To have known her at this moment and then to see her again at a time when she was still oblivious to so much… it would hurt, he knew. It would be worse even than it had been in the past, knowing about the Library, because at least until now he had known that this moment was coming, that as long as they hadn't heard the Towers sing it meant he would see her at least one more time. From now on, he would worry that every meeting was their last.  
  
And when the last time he would see her did finally come, he probably wouldn't even realise it until months, years, decades later. This was his last chance for a proper goodbye.  
  
So he cried, and he told her he loved her, and he gave her his screwdriver despite agonising over that decision for centuries.  
  
And then she was gone.  
  
  
He actually saw her slightly younger self only days later, and they danced the night away in an 18th-century ballroom. He was overjoyed in spite of himself, to have her back in this way.  
  
The next time, though, was a long time coming. The Doctor began to wonder just how many more meetings he had left. Her diary had been full to bursting, that day in the Library, but his was no longer precisely empty either. How many entries were in that book that he had yet to make in his? He couldn't help but feel that it couldn't be that many.  
  
He received a message from her eventually, a very young version of her, and went to pick her up from Stormcage for a romp at the end of the universe. Then he brought her back to her cell and made another entry in his diary.  
  
He would never know for certain when it was full, he realised. At least not until the day he died, and that could still be an eternity away.  
  
He waited for their next meeting until he could stand it no longer and then went to Stormcage anyway, hoping to surprise her. Instead, he found her cell empty – not of her things but definitely of her. Off gallivanting with his younger self, no doubt.  
  
He went off and had some adventures on his own, picked up a new companion for a while, then lost her to a handsome knight from the 43rd century. There was no word from River for the entire seven years it took to experience all this, and when he returned to the TARDIS alone once more, he did something rather rash.  
  
He went to the Library.  
  
Not to see the computerised incarnation of his wife – he didn't dare, somehow, as if doing so would be like admitting to himself that she was dead. But there was something in that Library which held the answer to the question of when and if he would see her again, the _real_ her, and if he was honest with himself it was a miracle he had kept himself from it for this long.  
  
Her diary was just where he had left it. He had probably only left it moments before, of course, which would account for that.  
  
Back on the TARDIS, he settled himself into his seat and opened the forbidden tome at a random page.  
  
 _London, 1814,_ he read. _Ice skating on the Thames, Stevie Wonder singing for me in blissful ignorance. I think this tops last year, my love._  
  
The Doctor smiled in spite of himself. He could still recall the look on River's face when she had realised who was at the piano. He had never thanked Rory for that suggestion, he realised.  
  
He flipped to another page.  
  
 _Mars, 651. Best sex ever. We blew up some Cybermen too._  
  
The Doctor grinned. This was clearly River before Egypt. In fact… he skipped ahead, looking for the Egypt entry… oh yes, here it was.  
  
 _Egypt, 29 BC. Fantastically amazing sex. Disappointed though to miss Cleopatra by a few months. Pyramids still incredible._  
  
He read the entry after, and the ones after that, overwhelmed with nostalgia. Every single event was one he had also experienced, every memory one that he shared. He turned the pages faster, wanting to get to the end so that he could start properly from the beginning, where he reasoned that any encounters he had yet to have with River would most likely be chronicled.  
  
 _Darillium, 5033,_ read the final entry. _Doctor showed up on my doorstep looking particularly dashing. Visited Singing Towers. Beautiful. Doctor cried though and wouldn't say why. Gave me his screwdriver too – perhaps crying with worry for it? Don't be afraid my love, I'll keep it safe._  
  
There were a few blank pages left in the book after that, but not many. River's life had fit quite neatly inside its confines.  
  
There was a scrap of paper tucked between the last page and the back cover. It fluttered gently underneath the console, and the Doctor scrambled after it. He grabbed it and then hit his head as he straightened.  
  
"Ow," he muttered, unfolding the note.  
  
 _Hello sweetie,_ it read.  
  
 _I am absolutely certain that you will read this at some point or another. I don't believe for a second that you'll be able to keep a rein on your curiosity once I'm gone. Yes, I know I'm gone – your handcuffed young self is slumbering beside me as I write this. Tenth incarnation, going by your companion? Handsome. Would never have known from that sketch you gave me.  
  
Anyway, I needed to tell you this, if you're desperate enough to be reading:  
  
You will see me again, my love. I'll be there when it matters, just like you were for me.  
  
Try not to overdose on the spoilers, won't you? You won't find all our meetings in this book.  
  
Must go, past you is stirring.  
  
All my love,  
  
River_  
  
  
Dammit. He was crying again.  
  
  
He read the book from cover to cover anyway. River was right; there were one or two encounters he remembered which weren't in the book, things too risky to put down on paper. Then there were three meetings he hadn't experienced yet. That was it: three.  
  
Three.  
  
First came _New Las Vegas, 5226. Robbed a casino for a lark but the Doctor made me put it all back._  
  
Then, _Starship Lexington, 2267. Witnessed mankind's discovery of the planet Oros – a gas giant with no redeeming features. Sucessfully prevented the ship from colliding with it. Note to self: make sure the Doctor avoids 23rd century starship food in the future. It does strange things to him._  
  
And finally, _Salem Town, 1692. Stepped out of the TARDIS and were immediately arrested for witchcraft. Escaped easily, but couldn't free all the other prisoners._  
  
  
Three more times he would see his wife – or two, more accurately, since the first entry came before her wedding from River's point of view.  
  
He wished now that he hadn't spoiled himself. On reflection, he would rather have still been able to live in hope after that third meeting. Now he simply dreaded it.  
  
  
The third meeting from River's point of view turned out to be his first, which shouldn't have surprised him. It was true that their encounters had a tendency to be in reverse order, but it was by no means a rule – as he had pointed out time and time again, River's diary comparing thing wouldn't work if his future was _always_ in her past, because they would never have any entries in common. Her usual reply to this tended to be, " _My_ diary comparing thing? You were the one who gave me the diary in the first place, sweetie."  
  
He hid the diary in question before he picked her up – he didn't want her spoiling _herself_ as well as him. This River unpacked her own, almost empty version of the diary eagerly, flicking through the pages. He made a show of doing the same with his own, his battered little book. She raised her eyebrows when she saw how full it was.  
  
"Have we got that much still to come?" she asked, a look of pure delight crossing her face.  
  
"Well. You have." The Doctor smiled despite himself. Somehow it was comforting, knowing that this River had so much she had yet to experience. So much wonderful _life_ stretching ahead of her.  
  
River grinned at him. "Do I get any sneak previews?"  
  
And then there was the hurt again, because all he could think of when she said that was her end.  
  
He pushed the thought to one side and kissed her. Her grin grew wider under his mouth. "Is this a sneak preview for another meeting, or for later on?" she asked in a low voice, reaching up to curl her fingers in his hair.  
  
"Spoilers," he said happily, rejoicing that at least he hadn't yet reached the last time he would be able to touch her.  
  
Such contradictory emotions he was having.  
  
He allowed his thoughts to be pulled along by events, was properly outraged at being arrested on what was basically his own front doorstep and properly clever at freeing some of the other supposed witches. He was also properly remorseful that he couldn't save them all. Then, after being forced to stand idly by while River untied herself from a burning stake (and why hadn't _that_ part been in her diary?), he was properly delighted when he got to take her to bed.  
  
And then properly distraught when the time came to say goodbye. He did his best to hide it, and thanked his lucky stars that this River was still young enough not to see through his act in an instant.  
  
After that he whirled around the universe some more, both anticipating and fearing their next meeting.  
  
  
It came some years later, long enough for him to stop wondering each morning if today was the day. Not quite long enough for him to stop thinking every curly-haired woman he encountered could be River when seen from the back.  
  
The TARDIS deposited him in New Las Vegas without warning – he had been aiming for pre-historic Earth, wanting to find a pet dinosaur for Amy and Rory's son. He knew where he was as soon as he stepped outside, and the date was easy enough to check.  
  
New Las Vegas, 5226. So where was River, and which of the hundreds of casinos was she robbing?  
  
The Doctor went with his gut feeling, and headed for the biggest.  
  
The Casino Gigantean certainly lived up to its name, with 100 storeys housing games with increasingly high stakes. The Doctor crossed the entrance hall, admiring the flashy advertising and declining invitations from scantily clad young women to join this game or the other, and took the specially designated lift to the top floor.  
  
River was playing roulette. _Winning_ roulette, as a matter of fact, surrounded by a crowd of admirers. She looked up as he approached and winked at him.  
  
"Hello, sweetie," she said, returning her gaze to the wheel. "I didn't know you were a gambler."  
  
"I'm not," he replied. He stepped closer, pushed her curls aside so he could whisper in her ear. "And you're _cheating_."  
  
"Using simple physical equations to calculate where the ball will land isn't cheating," she whispered back, grinning, her breath warm against his ear. "I haven't got any information the other players don't have."  
  
"You've got heightened perception and cognitive speed."  
  
"Innate ability." River smiled at the dealer as he gave her her latest winnings.  
  
" _Cheating_." The Doctor looked around. There were a few appreciative ladies and gentleman standing nearby, but no security guards or irate looking casino owners approaching yet. River however was looking extremely smug – she had already committed her grand theft, more than likely. "So how much did you steal?" he enquired quietly.  
  
River actually looked shocked. He hadn't shocked her in a good long while. It would have been more fun if he hadn't known this would probably be the last time he could do so.  
  
"How did you _know_?" she hissed, hesitating before pulling her winnings from the table and dragging him to a less crowded part of the room.  
  
"Spoilers," he said smugly. "Where's the loot, then?"  
  
River rolled her eyes and held up her wrist, on which she was wearing a very thick gold bracelet. "All currency is digital here. I just transferred it from the mainframe to some portable storage."  
  
"Very clever," the Doctor said approvingly. Then, remembering: "But now it's time to put it back."  
  
"What for? I didn't take all of it, they've got plenty to spare."  
  
"That's not the point, River."  
  
"Oh? What is the point?" She raised an eyebrow expectantly.  
  
"Stealing is _wrong_ , that's the point!"  
  
"You stole the TARDIS," she pointed out.  
  
"That was… that was _mutual_ stealing, it's not the same!" the Doctor spluttered. This was becoming more difficult than he had anticipated. _Robbed a casino but the Doctor made me put it back,_ the diary had said – nothing about a heated debate on the ethics of theft.  
  
"I'm sure this was mutual too, Doctor," River was saying. "The money was calling to me. I never would have done it otherwise. Anyway, if they don't want people stealing their money they shouldn't make it so easy."  
  
"Easy for _you_ , River. Again, you have certain advantages that the designers of the security system couldn't possibly have anticipated."  
  
"That's hardly my fault."  
  
"Put it _back_ ," the Doctor insisted.  
  
River stepped closer, smiling up at him. "Make me." Her eyebrows twitched suggestively.  
  
…So _that_ was where this was going.  
  
Right. He could play this game, then. "Maybe I will."  
  
"Go on, then."  
  
"Right." And he grabbed the wrist with the offending bracelet, pulled her roughly towards him and kissed her.  
  
Kissing was always the best way to get River to do anything. He had made that rather pleasant discovery very early on.  
  
She pulled away, and the look on her flushed face was not what he was expecting. A little too much surprise, and he realised with a start that he had no idea just how intimate things had become between them by this point in her timeline. He thought back frantically, piecing together memories of kisses and… other things; he was sure he had already done their first both-of-them-alive kiss but had _she_ , and had he just altered her timeline and—  
  
And River's hand was suddenly in a very intimate place.  
  
The Doctor looked down, swallowing nervously. The surprise had disappeared from River's face and she was wearing a wicked, wicked grin that he really felt he shouldn't like quite so much…  
  
"That's a good start," she purred.  
  
…But she was – would be – his wife, and something told him he was not getting out of this one with all his clothes on whatever he did.  
  
Bearing that in mind, he pulled her towards the exit.  
  
  
The bracelet was easy to remove from her wrist once she was securely handcuffed to the bed, and he made a point of extracting the secret of how to return the money from her before he touched her again. Then he left her there while he went to put back her loot, and by the time he got back she was getting very, very… impatient.  
  
Just the way he liked her.  
  
  
He dropped her back on Luna a few days later, once he had run out of excuses not to. He kissed her goodbye, told her to keep the handcuffs, and made a very good show of not wanting to cry.  
  
Then he steeled himself for the wait for their final meeting.  
  
  
It didn't come. Centuries passed. He regenerated twice – once after dying in a heroic manner and once in a stupid, embarassing accident involving some pruning shears – travelled with dozens of new companions, saved children and averted apocalypses, and every now and then he would take out River's diary and wonder.  
  
 _Starship Lexington, 2267._  
  
Had she made this one up? Had he somehow altered the timeline so that whatever she had experienced on this starship would no longer happen? He purposely did not simply ask the TARDIS to take him to the Starship Lexington in 2267 to see if River was there – he was too afraid of disappointment. He chose instead to live in hope; the hope that, like much of his life with River, this meeting too would be inevitable.  
  
He was travelling with a young Silurian named Kest when that inevitability finally asserted itself. Kest was a keen astronomer – unusual for her species, and one of the reasons he had asked her to join him in his adventures – and she would routinely make requests to see this star or that nebula.  
  
"There's this gas giant I'd quite like to take a look at sometime," she told him one morning, wandering into the control room with her nose stuck in a large textbook. "It's in the Jedrian system – humans call it 'Oros'."  
  
"Oros," the Doctor repeated, and even though it had been centuries since he had last seen River's face the mere thought of her sent a shock through him which made his hearts skip a beat. "Oros!" he repeated. "Certainly! We'll go right away!"  
  
"Doctor?" Kest was staring at him. "Why are you grinning like that?"  
  
"Am I? I am, aren't I! Nothing to worry about, Kest – I just have a sneaking suspicion that you're about to meet my wife." He grinned again, found he was unable to stop.  
  
"Your wife? You never told me you had a wife!"  
  
"Yes, well, she died. A long time ago now. And this…" he took a deep breath, steeling himself. "This will be the very last time I see her."  
  
  
"Hello, sweetie!" River said, lounging against a wall in the shuttle bay where he had parked the TARDIS. "You've changed your face, I see. We'd better do diaries."  
  
"No need," he told her. "I know exactly when you are, and as for me – you'll never see me older than this."  
  
He watched this sink in. "How do you know?" she asked finally.  
  
"Let's just say an old friend told me. Now, I don't believe you've met Kest? Kest, this is River Song, my wife."  
  
They shook hands nicely – good. He did appreciate it when his wife and his companions got along.  
  
"So what exactly are you doing here?" he asked River, once she had finished admiring the shine on Kest's scales.  
  
"Oh, my ship's engine cut out about half a light-year away. The captain was kind enough to have me brought on board."  
  
"Is this another one of those ships which is only temporarily yours?" the Doctor asked.  
  
"You could say that." River nodded at the nearest vehicle, which looked perfectly normal and period-appropriate, but the Doctor had a feeling he knew better.  
  
"Have you stolen a time ship again?"  
  
"Again? No. This is my first. Of many, apparently." She winked at him, and he cursed himself silently – after all this time, he still couldn't keep the spoilers from slipping out. He resolved once again to do better from now on. "They are a fantastic way to get around, though," River continued. "I think the only thing better would be a vortex manipulator, but they're fiendishly difficult to get ahold of."  
  
"Yes," the Doctor said. "Yes, they are." _But that won't stop you,_ he most emphatically did not add.  
  
At which point the ship's captain burst into the shuttle bay with an armed security detail and demanded to know how the Doctor had parked his vessel on the ship with the doors still closed, and who was he and who was River really and were they conspiring together and I think we'd better take you all to the brig for now, thank you very much.  
  
It was just like the old days.  
  
"You know," the Doctor said to River as he sat between her and Kest on the narrow bunk, "It always surprises me just how often you escape from one prison only to end up in a different one."  
  
"It's all part if the package, my love," she replied, busily removing her boot and unscrewing the heel. "Perhaps I'll write a book – Prison Cells Across the Ages. Ah." She handed him a small device and proceeded to reassemble her footwear. "Chuck that at the force field, will you sweetie?"  
  
The Doctor did as he was told, and the force field fizzled out of existence. River somehow managed to kiss the guard on the other side before he could shoot them, and he dropped to the floor in a happy slumber.  
  
"Remind me not to kiss you until you've wiped your mouth," the Doctor muttered. "And I could have done that with my screwdriver, you know."  
  
"I know, but you weren't being very pro-active, were you? And yes, I'll remind you not to kiss me on the mouth."  
  
"That's not what I said."  
  
River winked. "I know."  
  
At which point Kest excused herself to go back to the TARDIS.  
  
"Did I scare her off?" River said, liberating the guard's weapon from its holster. "Poor dear."  
  
"Be nice," the Doctor admonished. "Mammilian mating rituals make her uncomfortable."  
  
River stopped abruptly, angling herself so he almost walked into her. "Oh, is that what we're doing?" she asked in a low voice, looking up and down his suddenly very close body.  
  
He was about to reply when the alert sirens went off, and the captain's voice came over the intercom: "Attention all hands, abandon ship! Repeat, abandon ship!"  
  
"Well," said the Doctor. "I wonder what that's about."  
  
River grinned and grabbed his hand. "Let's go and find out."  
  
  
It turned out to be about the large gas giant which had unexpectedly appeared on the viewscreen, its presence having been concealed from the ship's sensors by the peculiar properties of the interstellar dust in this area. This was unfortunate because the ship was now caught in the planet's gravity and heading for a rather unpleasant impact.  
  
The crew were almost all evacuated, having managed to launch the escape vehicles at a sufficient speed to escape the planet's pull. Unfortunately the interstellar dust – pesky stuff, when you thought about it – made it impossible for the large starship to do the same.  
  
"Any ideas?" River said, standing next to him on the empty bridge, watching the big gold disk on the viewscreen increase in size.  
  
"Not yet, what about you?"  
  
"Well…" she said slowly. "My time ship has a tractor beam."  
  
"Yes, but it wouldn't be strong enough to pull a whole starshi—Ohh," he said admiringly. "You want to move the dust, don't you?"  
  
"Precisely." She smiled.  
  
"River Song, have I ever told you you're a genius?"  
  
"More than once, yes. But you're welcome to do so again."  
  
"River Song, you're a genius."  
  
"Thank you my love." She pecked him on the cheek. "I'll just go and get my ship ready, shall I?"  
  
"Yes. You do that."  
  
  
The timing was a bit tight, but eventually they managed to get enough of the dust away from the engines for the Doctor to be able to fire them up and steer the starship away from the planet. It wasn't until after he had done this that Kest reappeared, and the Doctor realised guiltily that he had forgotten all about her.  
  
"Doctor, this ship has the most amazing astrometrics lab!" she enthused, carrying a stack of data sticks onto the bridge. "I took so many readings of that planet, it'll keep me busy for weeks!"  
  
"Kest! Good for you. Glad to hear it. Yes."  
  
River appeared some moments later. "I got a message from the captain. He was very grateful and most apologetic. He'd like to invite us all to dinner once the crew's back on board, I said yes."  
  
"Right. All right. Why not?"  
  
  
The dinner was not bad, given that the food was all synthesised. River sat at his side, being her usual flirtatious self with the captain but keeping her leg firmly intertwined with his, and he allowed himself to enjoy the moment for as long as it lasted. He and his wife, having dinner together. How wonderfully domestic.  
  
All too soon though, it was over, and River wanted to take her leave.  
  
"No," the Doctor insisted firmly. It took all his self-composure not to let his desperation trickle into his voice. "No. I haven't seen you in so long, I'm not letting you go before I've reacquainted myself with every last bit of you."  
  
Thankfully, River was in the right kind of mood to accept this proposition.  
  
  
And then she was gone. Forever, this time.  
  
He made his excuses to Kest and went down to the swimming pool, trying to lose himself in endless laps, up and down and around and under, trying to exorcise the tight feeling in his chest. He didn't succeed, although he swam until he exhausted himself, and finally he pulled himself out of the water and collapsed onto the warm tiles.  
  
He lay there until Kest came to find him two days later.  
  
"You know what I would really like to see?" she said, handing him a big fluffy dressing gown. "The Horsehead Nebula from the other side. Does it still look like a horse from the other direction, do you think?"  
  
"I don't know," the Doctor said. He looked back at the pool, then put one foot in front of the other until he reached the door. He straightened, adjusting the dressing gown, hesitated, and jumped out into the corridor with a smile. "Let's go and find out!"  
  
  
The pain lessened eventually, though it never quite went away. Occasionally when he was alone, the Doctor would curl up with River's diary and indulge in nostalgia. This usually ended in tears, so he tried not to do it very often.  
  
Kest left eventually, having been offered a professorship at Luna University – many decades after River had left. He checked.  
  
Other companions came and went, but he found himself alone more often than not now. He wasn't sure he didn't like it that way.  
  
It was about three hundred years later when he found himself on the planet Omega Prime, battling Daleks. He really didn't like the way they kept cropping up when they were supposed to be extinct. The Timelords didn't keep reappearing all the time, after all.  
  
He almost wished they would, right now, so that he could try and wrangle some extra regenerations out of them. He had none left now, and he could smell a death coming on.  
  
He was surrounded, and although he had the means to create a scintillic radiation pulse that should kill all the Daleks, he had no way to escape from it himself. That meant a long, drawn-out death for him, a thought he did not relish.  
  
But it was the only way. So he replied to a "You will be exterminated" with "Likewise!" and pressed the button.  
  
Then he staggered back into the TARDIS and collapsed in front of the controls.  
  
"Well, Sexy," he murmured, pressing his cheek against the floor. "You take care of yourself, do you hear?"  
  
As if in response, he heard the familiar sound of the engine starting up. For some reason that made him smile. "Where are you taking me now, eh? I'm afraid it's too late for a last hurrah."  
  
The sound slowed, and he contemplated trying to crawl towards the door. The TARDIS had to know what was happening, after all, and he was dying with curiosity to see where they were.  
  
Well. He was dying anyway.  
  
He had just about managed to prop himself up on his elbows when he heard the door open behind him. He heard a hiss of indrawn breath, then the clatter of a pair of feet in heels running across the floor.  
  
And then River Song was on her knees beside him, River glorious Song pulling his head into her lap, pushing his hair out of his face.  
  
"What happened, my love?" she asked, and her upside-down face above him was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.  
  
"Killed myself, I'm afraid," he managed, vaguely aware that he was grinning like an idiot. "Permanently this time."  
  
"But there must be something we can do!" River protested.  
  
The Doctor closed his eyes. "You're already doing it," he said happily. He squeezed one eye open again. "Oh, but you probably shouldn't put this in your diary."  
  
"Right," River whispered.  
  
"Kiss me," the Doctor told her, and she did.


End file.
